Delivery vehicle chassis



Nov. 9, 1937. G. s. PlRoUMoFF I n DELIVERY VEHICLE CHASSIS Filed Oct.l0, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet l y INVENTOR.

` ATTORNEY.

Nov. 9, 1937. G. s. PlRouMol-F DELIVERY VEHICLE CHASSIS 3 Sheetz-Sheet 2Filed Oct. 10, 1936 INVENTR. GE oefif S. P/fo u Maf-'ff BY fw. uwATTORNEY.

Nov.'9, 1937. G. s. PlRoUMoFF DELIVERY VEHICLE CHASSIS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3Filed Oct. 10, 1936 GEORGE 5. /frauMoFF BYv f Patented Nov. 9, i937 sirFATENT Fi@ 4 Claims.

This invention relates to the art of building motorized vehicles andmore particularly pertains to a sectionalized truokbodycarried upon acommon chassis of special construction adapt- 5 ed to facilitatedoor-to-door delivery and wherein the driver is enabled quickly to stepout of or into the cab section of my truck as applied to milk, bakery7laundry, parcel post or the like product distribution purposes.

The need on part or" the driver to frequently leave his seat whenindividually handling each such product item during its delivery, is notonly fatiguing but time consuming, l therefore resort to a relativelyshort drivers seat that is symmetrically disposed behind a right-hand ora left-hand drive steering wh el Located contiguous to the definite endsof such shifted seat, are reversely arranged for-yard pits respectivelyprovided with a pla-'form that preferably lie one step beneath the doorof my cab section,

and one step above the level of the road bed.

My reversely disposed platforms are compactly incorporated wholly withinthe connes of such fo-rward section to permit a load carryingcompartment of large holding capacity to be demountably carried.'therebehind.

The centralized motor controls are kept within easy reach of a seateddriver; while standing erect upon either platform the driver canconveniently slide endwise into his seat from either platform for makinga short or more distant haul.

For a left-hand drive for instance, the steering wheel column iscorrespondingly offset with F respect to the longitudinal center-line ofthe vehicle. The present cab bodyand chassis construction may, exceptfor the cited platform provision, oe designed throughout in accordancewith standardized shop practice. My cab body as a whole including itspit platforms, may be completely fabricated prior to setting the sameupon its chassis, which facilitates the economical production of truckson a regular assembly line basis. The arrangement of my cab is such thatthe assembly can readily be dropped across and removably bolted to apair of oppositely disposed side channels or the like longitudinal framemembers in the customary manner.

Both such forward platforms are inbuilt into my cab structure andiixedly united thereto. The center region of the transverse drivers seatis purposely shifted relative to the longitudinal body center-line. lnorder that each such pit may be brought close to the respective seatends,

one pit platform is made to extend inwardly from its contiguous bodysidewall to a greater distance than the other platform. To permit of anunobstructed chassis mounting of my improved cab, one such frame memberis laterally inset between the respective aligned member ends toaccommodate said extended pit platform. Otherwise the same standardparts such as suspension springs and hangers therefor, motormountings,steering gear, propeller shaft and the like chassis components may bekept identical with those of `a'conventirmal line of trucks when builtWithout any `depressed body platforms.

My truck may be independently fabricated as a cab unit and a rearwardload carrying body unit, in which event my complementary pit platformsare confined to the cab unit. The rear section or' loading space canthen be interchangeably made up as a van, express, stake or any otherkind of composite body. lVly cab is so arranged that itsy transverserear body wall or parting plane s preferably made to fall within the4forward half length of the wheel base. To this end; thereciprocativemotor drive is mo-unted over the front wheel axle. Because of lack instructural continuity of a sectionalized body installation, theunderlying frame channels are subjected to a concentrated downwardloading in the region of said parting plane; that is to say, acorresponding unitary body does not impose a combined bending andtwisting strain of equal magnitude: since such installation tends tomutually stilfen the long frame members. In thecase of a'sectionalizedbody, the laterally inset portion of my deflected side channel fallsdirectly beneath -and across such parting plane and hence is more likelyto suffer severe deformation. The present aim is to sobrace andreenforce such a chassis channel that all abnormal sag or other flexuremay be adequately overcome without any undue weakening of the flangesthereof.

The primary object of this invention is to provide for a simple chassisstructure of the character indicated that shall provide for an optimumof loading space for a given wheel baseV and that can befabricated on astandardized productive basis at corresponding low first cost.

Embodied herein are also certain other novel frame features that willpresently be more explicitly pointed out. Reference is had to theaccompanying three sheets of drawings which are illustrative ofdifferent embodiments and in which drawings:

Cil

Fig. l is an elevational side view of a truck body assembly equippedwith my improvements.

Fig. 2 represents a cross-sectional top View thereof as seen along theline 2 2 of Fig. 1, while Fig. 3 shows a transverse cross-sectional viewtaken along 3-3.

Fig. 4 partially details a plan of channeled frame members, and Fig. 5depicts a sectional View along 5 5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is similar to Fig. l but fragmentally shows a modified bodyarrangement in that a cab unit is mounted forwardly upon a chassis, andof which Fig. 7 corresponds to the Fig. 2 layout. y

Referring rst to Figs. 1 to 3, this assembly may comprise a cab sectionand a loading section respectively having common complementary sidewallssuch as I IA and I IB, a deck I2 Yand a main` floor I3 that may besupported upon the usual underlying sills.

section is shaped to cooperate with a cowl hoodv It is preferred tocompactly mount the motor` weight centrally in a substantially vbalancedrelation over the front wheel axle and to extend the drivers section I8and its windshield 'I forwardly thereover, as shown. Such cab sectionmaybe partitioned from the rearward load carrying body section by atransverse parting wall I9 provided with a horizontally slidable door.20 of which the sill lies on a level with the ca b floor I3. The

sheathed sidewalls IIA and IIB that uphold the Y deck, are respectivelybuttressed bya serieso'f uprightrbody posts such asr2 IA, 21B, etc.,certain of which extend beneath the main floor I3 to the platform level.The bottom edge of each sidewall skirt portion 9 is carried downwardlybeneath the main floor level and terminates ina metallic rub moulding3|. Such facing provided for a finished body trim that extendslengthwise in acommon level with the respective platforms and iscontinued beyond the rear wheel mudguard 54. The rear compartment endmay be closed by suitable tail doors. Y v

' As will be understood, the front and rear axles are spring suspendedfrom separate standardized hanger means such as 22 and 23 that may reachoutwardly or depend from their respective chassis beams I6 and I'I. Thedepending rear terminals` of each semi-circular mud guard 24 areconcentrically disposed to closely clear the perimeter of each frontwheel tire. Immediately adjacent to the rearmost confines of each Vsuchguard and within a'distance of not more than three-fourths of thediameter of said perimeter away from the front wheel axis, there iserected a body post 25 shaped to constitute a forward door jamb. AV

mated jamb V26 is spacedly located to the rear thereof. Bothcomplementary Vjambs of eachV side doorway may exnd beneath themainfloor to the level of a depressed platform'such as -2Ior 2,8, whichrespectively form an integral constituent` of the cab structure. Theseinbuilt pit platforms. obviate broken :door gaps that would otherwisevtend to weaken the assembled body while being, handled prior toinstallation upon, its chassis.`

The forward body end-or cab Y I l loor to prevent road splash fromentering the cab sidewalls of the sunken pits.

A permanent uniting of the door jambs 25 and 26 l inwardly from its sill3D closely contiguous to said body center-line A-B as in Fig. 2. A panshaped 'metal sheath or 'the like sectionalized inset linling 36 servesto both reenforcingly brace and interiorlytrim the depending sidewallsand platform of each such forward pit. The marginal edges of such insetlinings may be sealed to the section. When the Vehicle body I0 is setdown upon and secured to the framework as intended, clearance for thelonger of these platforms is provided bylaterally insetting andreenforcing the channel I'I intermediate its ends, in a manner that willpresently be defined.

For a left hand Fig. 2 drive, the axial center of the steering wheelcolumn 32 would be correspcndingly shifted with respect to the bodycenter-line A B. A raised drivers seat 33 of short length is showntransversely mounted upon the narrow main floor ridge 34. The upturnedface of this ridge extends between the innermost edge confines of therespective platform pits and the seat length is given approximately alike dimension. rlihe medial seat region may be symmetrically disposedrelative to the offset steering wheel axis. After having stepped uponeither depressed platform from the roadV level, the driver may by adexterous bodily shift, conveniently'seat himself behind such steeringwheel and thereupon lift his feetfinto engagement with the-foot controlf pedals. When dismounting for the delivery of goods, the driver needmerely shift bodily toward one seat end and then step down onto one orthe other of said platforms. A separate sliding door such as 35 mayserve to close the front doorway leading to the respective platformpits, it beingl preferred for left hand driving to locate the longer ofsuch platforms on the right body side away from any fast passing traino.The use of the twin platforms 2l and 28 facilitates rapid productdelivery without having to walk around the parked vehicle.

As representedV in dotted outline in Fig. 1, the main floor I3 extendsforwardly along a common level upto the inclined toe board 8 of my cab,which board may be supported by said floor. The platform carrying pits2l and 28 are sunk therein in such fashion that said flooring sharplydelines the respective top edges of such mated pits. The main floortogether with its aligned ridge face is kept raised sufficiently toallow the propeller shaft I5, brake rods and the like chassisaccessories to be unobstructedly carried beneath said face and betweenthe innermost depending The narrow ridge component .'-l/l integrallyinterconnects the fore and aft floor sections to stiifen the main floorstructure against heavy body loading and maintain a flush unbroken doorlevel.

VAn important objective of my cab arrangement is to secure the maximumof loading space for a given wheel base. This end is in part attained byinbuilding the pit platforms into my demountable cab structure, whichpermits of crowding both forward door jambs 25 toward the front neelaxis. The permissible sharp lateral offset in my frame member I1 affordsan advantage in this regard over the use of a long sweep drop frame andalso provides for a greater effective clearance with respect to the roadbed for a specied tire diameter.

My chassis frame members I6 and I1 may either overhangingly projectrearwardly to underlie the tail end of the body or they may be cut offadjacent to a rear spring hanger of the wheels as in Fig. 1. ifhen thelatter construction is resorted to, the body interior may be furtherpartitioned transversely at 3? crosswise of the posts ZID. rEhe i-oortherebeycnd is shown dropped to provide for a rear body well or pit 38whose stepped floor level preferably lies in substantial alignment withthe platforms 21 and 28. The overhanging body tail end may then bereenforcingly upheld drop frame fashion by a pair of depending bracebrackets such as 39 of which one end may be xedly attached to the rearterminal ef a contiguous frame member.

the foregoing disclosure, it will be evident that my cab sectiontogether with the inbuilt platforms thereof, may be lifted off thechassis upon which the body sills demountably rest. In accordance withcommon practice, such body sills may be provided with distributed angleirons or the like bracket projections by which to snugly bolt andthereby tie down the body to the understructure against inadvertentdisplacement while enroute. By virtue of my design refinements andirrespective of whether or not a sunken platfo; i such as 28 is providedfor, the front spring ion, including the complementary frame ei hangersthereof, the motor mounting, the s. ering gear and control pedals ascarried by foy chassis may without interference, be kept .l tical instructure with corresponding standardized adjuncts now being generallyused for complementary frames that are both kept axially straightbetween kthe respective ends thereof.

Referring now to Figs. 4 and 5, these detail a preferred style of mylongitudinal frame members and il, which are shown fabricated fromrectilinear cross-sectionally channel shaped beams whose respectiveupright webs such as 40 taper the ends thereof. The mated channel in andHB are inturned toward each and laterally spaced apart to a lesseroverall distance than the body width. The frame member it may be keptsubstantially straight throughout its length, while a deflected medialportion of the continuous companion member l1 is sharply bent laterallyinward toward the bodt7 center-line A-B, as shown. The last named memberis shaped to comprise a comparatively short inset straight component l2disposed in substantial parallelism with the aligned frame ends thereof.A pair of cbliquely disposed components S3 and lll respectivelyinterconnect said straight component with such channel ends in integralformation. These reversely inclined @imponente stiffen the frame gapagainst any thrust that be imposed between the channel ends. The insetgap provides clearance space in which to accommodate the longer forwardplatform 28, the erresponding innermost platform edge being preferablycarried closely adjacent to the deflected channel component 42 as inFig. 2.

My side channel l1 is preferably cold bent by dies between the endsthereof after having initially been formed in a straight length in themanner of its mated channel It; Such fabrica tion is herein permissiblefor the reason that the flanges 'l A are comparatively narrow inrelation to the deep web liEi, hence allowing of a corresponding abruptcold bending whereby to throw the rearward end of the oblique componentd3 well forward toward the front wheel axle without requiring any changein disposition of the standardized spring hanger 23.

If desired, certain of said channel components may be proviL ed with`depending brackets such as d respectively arranged to support a pair oftransversely overhanging angle iron beams 5i and 52 that constitute areenforcing lcradle on which, to removably crate the platforms 2 and 23when the body is dropped in place upon the frame members. l Saidtransverse beams also reenforce my frame members against axial twist andare xedly attached to the web dt by the brackets t5 without detriment tothe frame fianges MA and MB. To further provide for' adequate torsionalrigidity in the offset region of the frame member il, I preferablyinterconnect its componentdi'. with the member l5 by a tubulartransverse brace lib. The tube ends may respectively be welded toflanged sockets such as [il adapted to be flXedly secured to the'webs ofsuch laterally spaced channels.

Said frame members may additionally be equipped with a channeled crossmember d8 whose ends are respectively bracketed and riveted inplace. Amedial region of said cross member' is in turn connected to the framecomponent 42 by a channeled tie piece or longitudinally disposed strutmember t9. One end of such reenforcing strut may be interiorly nestedwithin and fastened to the frame component 52 while the opposite strutend may be provided with double gusset plates 5l) that Overlap theabutting cross member d8 so as to effectively counteract sag of saidinset component under extreme downward loading and to generally augmentthe rgidity of the offset channel in its gap regio-n. All such framebeam reenforcements are purposely connedwithin the beam. depth andfastened directly to the web it without weakening either of the channeliianges MA or MB to leave a pair of fiush upturned surfaces for thereception of the body sills 5 therealong. As a substitute for the bentcontinuous frame member il', such beam may also be sectionalized andwelded or riveted together to similarly counteract chassis weave.

ie bottorrlnost flange of my laterally offset frame beam is preferablykept above the horizontal line C--D that interconnects the front andrear wheel centers. The platform level may fall somewhat below said linewhile still maintaining the transverse angle irons 5l and 52 at anadequate distance above the road bed. Such bridging` angle irons arelocated beneath the bottom flanges of my frame channels to provide for aclearance space equal to the web depth wherein to unobstructedly mountthe propeller shaft together with the engine mounting eduipmentinclusive of its attached gear shifting housing.

The cab body laterally overhangs overall width spacing of my framechannels i5 and il and the projecting ends of the transverse beams 5 and52 serve to stiien the sill edges of the platforms and the door' jambserected thereon. If desired, such beams may be extended outwardly beyondthe door sills to support a narrow running board shaped to constitute atool box such as 53 that is schematically shown by dotted outline inFig. 2.

In Figs. 6 and 7 there isshown a modiiied body arrangement in that thecab unit 60 is built up as an independent unit adapted to have a load Ycarrying body unit interchangeably mounted against which the open doorabuts.

therebehind. Both such separately Vfabricated. units rest upon thedescribed lchassis beams but in this instance, the forward platforms 6land 62 are inbuilt and confined tolsaid cab which is located within theforward half Yof the wheel base length C-D. VThe longer'platform 6l isshown inset into the cited frame gap and the raised drivers seat 63isshifted leftward in substantial alignment with the axis of the steeringVVwheel 64. In this alternative cab design, each side door 65 is of thedouble hinged, collapsible type mounted upon the body post or jamb 66that again extends'from the deck downwardly to its platform and beneaththe level of the main oor El.

In order to clear the inward swinging of the door 65, the superficialplatform shape is modi- M ed by providing for aflared pit sidewall 68The cowl 69 for the cab is. enlarged over the Figpl showing but suchdetails are discretionary, the aiminV either case being to crowd thecomplementary side door jambs I closely adjacent to; the front wheel mudguard 'H to afford a relatively large loading space rearward of saidcab.

Important advantages are afforded when the Fig. 4 frame cross-braces areapplied to the Fig. 7

chassis. It will be observed that the inclined rear channel component44A then underlies the'V transverse -rear cab end 1| which unit in this'instance is kept separable from the forward end of the load carryingcompartment 12 (schematically represented in dotted outline). The offsetframe region 52A contiguous to such upright parting plane 1| has inpractice been found to f ing or possible collision impact.

rcp and road tests have demonstrated that theVV defined framev brace iscapableof fully remedy-V need substantial reenforcement to preventexcessive sag and weave under severe downward load- Comprehensive Y ingthe cited detrimental defects, particularly by extending thelongitudinal strut 497A normal to such parting plane in the mannershown.4

The foregoing rather explicit disclosures' are j thought to makeapparent to those skilled in this art, the advantages aiforded by myimproved body structure, it being understood that various changes in theillustrative embodiments thereof one step beneathV the body iioor level,the com-A bination of a chassis comprising front and rear wheel axlessuspending thereacross a pair of longitudinally continuous framechannels that respectively lie in spacedrrelation withinV the coniinesof their contiguous body sides, one such channel in the forward half ofthe wheel base being medially offset and laterally deiiected toward itsmate on a level lying'above the wheel centers to accommodate theaforesaid platform, and means cross-bracing said frame channels, saidmeans including bracket means depending from each such channel and aninterconnected transverse beam extending crosswise beneath said channelsand outwardly beyond said one channel to reenforcingly uphold saidplatform.

-2.VIn a motor driven vehicle including a body provided with a pitplatform extending inwardly from a body side one step beneath the bodyfloor level, a chassis comprising a pair of longitudinally continuousframe channels that respectively-lie in spaced relation within theconiines of the body sides,' one such'channel being medi# ally offsetVand laterally deiiected toward the other channel to constitute an insetVframe component that accommodates the aforesaid platform, a transversebrace ilxedly interconnecting said inset frame component with the otherchannel, a mated cross member interconnecting said frame channels inlaterally spaced relation to said brace, andan interposed strutextending between the' cross member and said brace.

3. In a'motor driven vehicle provided with a demountable body equippedwith a depending pit platform extending inwardly from a body side onestep beneath .the body iioor level, the combination of a chassiscomprising front and rear wheel vaxles suspending thereacross a pair ofY longitudinally continuous frame channels that respectively lie inspaced relation within the connesof the body sides, one such channelbeing vmedially ofisetand laterally deflected toward its mate on a levellyingr above the wheel centers to unobstructedly accommodate theaforesaid platform, complementary depending brackets attached to theVweb of each such frame channel,

and a separateY transverse beam attached to the respective lower endregions of corresponding brackets of each frame channel, said beamsextending laterally beyond said one channel to constitute acradlestructure serving to impart rigidity to said platform againstdownward loading.

4. In a motor driven vehicle including a body provided with a pitplatform, a chassis comprising a pair of longitudinally continuous framechannels arranged in spaced relation to uphold said body thereacross,one such channel in the forward half of its length being medially offsetandlaterally deflected inwardly toward the other channel to accommodatethe pit platform, said channel offset being shaped to include reverselyinclined oblique components that are interconnected by an insetrectilinear component, and

' means reenforcing said inset channel component,

saidrmeans including a transverse brace member and aV spaced crossmember having a strut interposed therebetween and which strut extends insubstantial parallelism with said rectilinear component to augment therigidity of such channel oiset against downward loading.

GEORGE S. PIROUMOFF.

